


The World's Too Wide to Bring Me Round

by signalbeam



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Bad Puns, Bisexuality, Coming Out, Community: badbadbathhouse, Ensemble Cast, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Homosexuality, M/M, Post-Canon, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-19
Updated: 2009-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-18 07:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/186584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/signalbeam/pseuds/signalbeam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nanako comes out to Yosuke. True to form, Yosuke has a way of making it all about his own horribly awkward, conflicted feelings about everyone else and everything else. But mostly just Souji.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the badbadbathhouse prompt: _I want to see teenage!Nanako coming out to her Big Bro (or one of the other investigation team members, if the mood strikes you). He and the rest of the gang rally to reassure her/defend her/freak out about their own sexuality/hook her up/etc._
> 
> Yeesh, this one's an old one! A really, really old one. Oh dear.

Nanako's first doubts came when she was ten.

She was visiting Yosuke in Junes, and she and Yosuke were talking about the cute boys in her class. As always, she had a list of two names, and Yosuke managed to tease a few more from her, out of good jest. Then he said, "You're going to be in middle school soon. Isn't it about time you started dating one of those guys?"

Well, of course she _liked_ Genji-kun and Kyou-kun. She loved being their friends, hanging out with them, laughing and playing with them, but that was it. She didn't feel anything else towards them. When she told Yosuke that, he stiffened a bit, and said, in a weirdly strangled voice, that, well, that was fine, maybe she just hadn't found the right person yet.

Then her father found out that Yosuke was encouraging her to date boys, and Yosuke had to avoid Nanako's house for a month, lest the combined forces of Ryotaro Dojima and Chie Satonaka bore down on him and flatten him to the ground. There were places in Inaba where the police didn't patrol, and unless Yosuke watched over his back at night--

Well. It was sometimes better to not take that risk.

Besides, she wasn’t the kind of person who had crushes. TV was totally unrealistic like that. Just because she was at “a certain age” didn’t mean she should be falling for people left and right, sheesh. Sure, she had posters of idols in her room, and she liked looking at them, but she only liked looking at them in the way most girls did: admiring their faces and bodies and their clothes and wanting to get their autographs, but especially if they left lipstick on the paper.

And then she remembered Miyako-chan did the same thing with those boy bands she liked, which was kind of weird, and then, very suddenly, incredibly embarrassing. No way, she didn’t like girls like that. She was normal. Really.

Six months later, her brother called right on time, as usual, and mentioned he was seeing someone while studying in the city. And then he said that the name of the person he was seeing was Akihiko. When Yosuke heard about it, he turned a strange shade of white and said, in a strangled voice, that god, was there something in the city that turned people into homos, because _seriously_. And then Nanako told him that her brother wasn't a homo because he liked boys and girls, which made him bisexual. And, by the way, what was the word for a girl who only liked girls, or boys who only liked boys, because the only words she had heard at school weren't very nice.

Yosuke went red and mumbled that Nanako should go see Kanji and Naoto. So she did. Kanji and Naoto were really good at explaining things, anyway, and they always played with her when she visited. Sometimes Kanji let her help with knit things for his shop, and she loved helping. It was fun, and on top of that, Naoto sometimes told her stories about cases she was taking up in her spare time. Naoto knew a lot about a lot of things. Naoto could help her.

"Uh," said Kanji, and then swore very loudly when he pricked himself with a needle. Then Naoto took over and explained everything to her in a very clear voice without stuttering at all--that observation had been Kanji's, and after saying that, Naoto went red and said that information was information, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Naoto asked why Nanako had asked and Nanako said that Yosuke told her to come to them.

And then Yosuke and Kanji were arguing for days over how Kanji was "corrupting" people, and then Big Bro had to call Yosuke and the two of them talked for a long time and Yosuke apologized to Kanji and everything seemed fine.

When Nanako asked her father, he sputtered a bit and went silent for a while. Then he said that it was really okay if she was gay and that he still loved her, and he was sure her mother would be proud of her, no matter what happened. Then she said that she had just been asking about her big brother, and he looked incredibly relieved.

And then she asked if she could go see a movie with Kyou-kun because she liked him and he liked her, and could she go alone, without him watching over her? Pretty please?

The dinner that night went straight from "awkward" to "painful,” in half a second flat.

 

\---

 

 _... five years later._

As the customer left Junes, Yosuke heard her say, "Can't you believe how the manager is brutalizing that little girl?" to her friend. If Yosuke hadn't had his hands full with trying to comfort Nanako, he would've clarified things: that the teenage girl crying into his shoulder was his best friend's little sister, so close that she was almost like his own sister, and that he was a perfectly sensitive guy, thank-you-very-much, but he would've been comforting his ego, not Nanako, so he kept his mouth shut and instead led Nanako to the furniture section. After a while, she stopped sniffling and then said, "Sorry for interrupting you at work."

"Are you kidding?" Yosuke said, rubbing her back. "You think I'd be angry if you came running into the store like that? No way."

"Big bro told me that your Dad said he might take away your position of manager if he caught you taking someone on a date in here again."

"That was just a joke," Yosuke said. Or at least, he thought his dad was joking. If the old man hadn’t been, then Yosuke would have… a problem. "Anyway, the old man's not going to fire me because of you. So come on, tell me what happened." Partially out of habit, he said, "C'mon, you can tell your other big bro anything."

"It's stupid,” she said, leaning out of his touch.

"No, no, c'mon. I'm not going to laugh at you. Promise." Nanako kicked his ankle. "Okay, okay, it isn't funny, I get it."

Nanako pulled away from him, sat down on the display bed. Then she said, "Promise you won't get mad?"

"Promise." He'd just tell Souji and have _him_ beat down on whoever made her cry. Nanako frowned at him.

"And promise you won't tell Dad or big bro."

Damn. There went that route. "Promise," he said with a sigh. "And I won't tell Chie, either." Because telling Chie was like telling the entire Inaba police department.

Nanako pulled a handkerchief from her pocket--where did girls get those handkerchiefs, anyway, it was like they produced them from thin air--and then said, "Kyou-kun and I broke up today."

"I knew it," he said. Kyou Ogawa was Nanako's boyfriend--or had been her boyfriend. He had always seemed like something of a lame duck, and that made it hard to get _too_ mad at the kid. It was a bit like kicking a puppy with three legs. But _this_? All gloves were off. Kyou Ogawa would rue the day he made Nanako cry.

"No, I broke up with Kyou-kun because I wanted to be with senpai." She dabbed at her eyes and then said, "Um, my mascara isn't running, is it?"

"You're smearing it with your handkerchief," Yosuke said. He sat beside her and put an arm on her shoulder. "Fell in love with your senpai, huh. Tough." He swallowed, remembering, for the first time in a while, the death of Saki. It had been nearly ten years since that rainy April morning; he could handle it. "What's his name?"

She hesitated, looking at him a bit wearily. Then she said, "Jun Asakura-senpai. I really, really admire him. He’s on the tennis team with me. We play doubles together sometimes, and he was really, really—I mean, he _is_ always really nice to me, and even though he already had a boyfriend—”

“What?” Good god, it was like there were more and more homosexuals in Inaba by the hour. Nanako winced at the expression on his face, and, a bit guiltily, he toned it down. After all, this was the boy she fell in love with—but honestly, the guy was a scumbag for hurting Nanako, and he didn’t give a damn about whether he was gay or not.

“Well, Jun-senpai had a boyfriend, but their relationship was really shaky because Jun-senpai’s boyfriend was working in Okina, and Jun-senpai wants to go to college and become a doctor.”

“Uh, all right,” Yosuke said. Poor girl. Falling in love with a gay guy—well, at least it hadn’t gone as far as an actual relationship. That would’ve been even worse.

“Everyone on the team knew they were going to break up.” She sniffled a bit more. “When Jun-senpai didn’t come to practice for an entire week before the qualifying tournament for regional, I went to his house and saw that he was really down. So I told senpai that it was okay if he didn’t play tennis in the future, but we needed him now at the tournament. And then he said I was a good friend, and he was glad I came over, and we made it to the inter-regionals. And then we lost, but qualified to go to the wild card round to go to the nationals, and we lost there, too—”

“Yeah,” he said. He remembered hearing about it from Souji, who was a guidance counselor at the high school. “I remember hearing about that. You’ll just have to practice hard for next year.”

“Uh-huh,” Nanako said glumly. “Well, on the ride back home, we stopped at a hotel in Inzai, and I confessed to him, and he said that he wasn’t interested in girls like that and that we should just be friends, but then some of the other girls on the team found out and then senpai said I must have blabbed and that we shouldn’t be friends anymore and said I should drop out of the varsity team—and—”

“There, there,” he murmured, drawing her into a one armed hug as the tears started again. “I’m sure they’re just jealous.”

She mumbled an apology for something Yosuke couldn’t hear, and said, “They’re calling me a lezzy.”

Oh, for. What was it with high school kids being such _assholes_ these days? “Because you were interested in a gay guy? They’re crazy.”

“Because Jun-senpai’s full name is Junko-senpai.” Yosuke’s arm stiffened. For a second he could only freeze, trying to process what he had just heard. Nanako slipped out of his arms and said, “Please don’t be angry.”

“That’s—no, I wouldn’t,” he said, but he felt like he had never seen Nanako before, like the Nanako he knew was, very suddenly, someone else. He had been getting better with dealing with surprises like this, really, but there was no _way_ Nanako was really gay. She had been talking about boys for _years_ with him, and he knew for a fact that she had done more than just hold hands with Kyou. “I mean—I’m a bit upset… well, no that’s not it, I’m just surprised—I didn’t expect you to—”

“I should go back home,” Nanako said, picking her school bag and her duffel that carried her tennis equipment. “Big bro and Dad are going to start worrying.”

“Nanako, wait,” he said. “I’m—”

“Thanks for all the help! I feel a lot better now.” With a too obviously fake smile, she waved at him and said, “Bye-bye! I’ll see you later!” and ran out the store, leaving Yosuke still on the bed, too stunned to make his mouth move. After about thirty seconds, his brain rebooted. He banged his head against the bed.

Why did he always make a mess out of stuff like this?

 

\---

 

Of the people who would know about Nanako being—well, for being _that_ way—the first ones to know would probably be either Chie or Naoto, and of the two, Chie was less likely to look at him like, “Yosuke-san, I do believe that you’re an imbecile.” Chie normally skipped the disdainful looks and went right for the part where she tried to decapitate him with her feet. And if he offered her free dinner at the food court—well, it wasn’t like Chie ever refused a free meal, and she’d probably be a lot more lenient if he kept feeding her.

The second she came into the food court, dressed in street clothes and looking _pissed_ , Yosuke knew he had picked the wrong person.

“God, Yosuke,” she said. “I know that your mouth can run ahead of your head sometimes, but did you have to make Nanako-chan cry all over again?”

“I didn’t—” he began. And then he sighed, because she already knew, anyway. Where would denial get him? “Did she tell you, too?”

“I found her on my way back home from patrol. She told me to not beat you up _too_ much,” she said, her expression softening. “It wasn’t too hard to guess at what had happened once you figured out that there’s no men’s tennis team at Yasogami. So where’s the steak?”

“Come on,” Yosuke said. “You can’t—”

“You promised!”

And he had already bought the steak, anyway. The teller called out the number of his order, and he went to fetch the three plates of food: one a yakisoba plate, the other two steaks. Setting the plates on the table, he said, “Don’t you ever get tired of eating this?”

“Not when it’s free,” Chie said cheerfully, cutting into the steak. “Well, I knew that Nanako might be—you know.” She gestured, a bit uncomfortably. “She asked some stuff about me and Yukiko when she starting middle school, and since this was around the same time Dojima-san and Souji-kun told her about the TV, everything kind of… came out.”

He stared. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”

Chie gave him a _look_. It was the kind of look she gave to the teenage punks she caught stealing. It was the ‘look, buster, do not screw with me’ look. “Yosuke, if I told you in high school that I wanted to strip Yukiko and pin her onto the ground and have wild sex with her, would you go, ‘oh, okay’ or would you have teased us until we avoided each other until for the rest of our lives just so you’d quit talking about it?”

“What? Come on, I wasn’t—”

“You were a real jerk to Kanji-kun,” Chie said. “I mean, I know you’ve gotten better about it, but even when he and Naoto-kun moved in with one another, you kept bugging them—”

“Look, I didn’t come to ask you to skewer me. I wanted your help to… make things over with Nanako.” Yosuke shifted, uncomfortably. “I screwed things up with Kanji and Naoto-kun. When you and Yukiko-san, uh, came out—”

“No, it’s not like that,” Chie said quickly. “I mean, I’m not gay—neither is she, I think—but I still like guys, it’s just—Yukiko’s the only… well, not the only, but she’s…” After a little more verbal fumbling, she made a face and said, “It’s complicated, okay?”

“And when Souji told me that he was bi, I acted like an asshole. I don’t want to do the same thing with Nanako. She’s… she’s like family to me.”

 _Hmm_ , went Chie. She speared a piece of steak and chewed, slowly, as she considered. Her expression softened. “So are you asking me how to apologize, or are you asking me how to make you less of a moron when it comes to people coming out to you?”

What was it about girls and always sounding so smug and self-satisfied when they thought they got him? Still, he’d need all the help he could get; Chie wasn’t as much ‘sensitive’ as she was ‘girly’, which made her sensitive by nature. Kind of. Actually, he wasn’t sure. She never seemed to be very sympathetic to _him_. “Both,” he said.

“Great! Well, the best way to apologize to her would be to just come out and say it.” She prompted him with her steak knife. “C’mon, practice a bit.”

“What? Hell no.”

“Do you want the help or not?” she said. “I mean, I’m not going to do this for free.”

“What the—I’m the one paying for your dinner!”

“You said it’d be free! Chop, chop!”

He was ready to storm out on her, but—well, that’d just prove her point, and he didn’t need to be more of an ass than usual. Besides, this was for Nanako’s sake. He could swallow his pride for that. He took a deep breath, and pictured Nanako in Chie’s place. A Nanako who was eating steak. It was a strange image.

“Look,” he said. “Nanako-chan. I’m sorry about being awkward. It was just—when you said that the senpai you had was a girl, I acted badly because I didn’t think you’d be… you know. Like that. And I’m not mad or anything, and I don’t think you’re gross, but I do think it’d be better—well, I want you to be happy, and I think that this… Jun-senpai person of yours won’t do anything for you.” He paused. “Well. How was that?”

“Hmm.” Chie took out her phone. “Hold on. I’m going to need to tell Yukiko I’m going to be home late.” He got that. What he didn’t get was why after hanging up, Chie called someone else.

“What the—who are you calling now?!” he squawked.

“Well, who else?” she said with an exasperated note in her voice. “Souji-kun.”

 

\---

 

Souji. Good, old dependable Souji. Yosuke’s best and closest friend, partner in crime, a man he had died for and sacrificed himself for. Souji was also one of the most thoughtful, sensitive guys on the face of the planet—or, if not on the face of the planet, the most thoughtful and sensitive in Inaba. He had gone off to college for four years at Tokyo University and got degrees in psychology and philosophy. Then he did a doctorate in philosophy—or psychology. The only thing Yosuke really remembered about it was that it had something to do with the role of media engagement and the interaction of the western media with Chinese philosophers. He had become a high school guidance counselor because he thought it was the best way to help the town he loved—never mind that he did a _lot_ of community engagement. He was the coach of the basketball team, and advisor of the philosophy club, and led an animal rescue effort over by the shrine, never mind his side business of finding lost objects for people. The man felt almost… superhuman sometimes, and for better or worse, Yosuke had gotten used to relying on Souji for guidance.

The only problem with bringing Souji into the equation was that this involved Souji’s little sister, and Souji had a tendency for being protective of her. As far as Nanako was concerned, he was both a parental and sibling figure. He was still understanding and sympathetic and knew all the right things to say, but if he found out that Yosuke had wronged his little sister, then Yosuke _knew_ Souji would think less of him. It had been the same way when Yosuke got into a fight with one of Souji’s first boyfriend. (He had lost, but just barely. Apparently Akihiko had been a boxer before he joined the police.) Souji had been understanding and kind and gentle, but the way he had _looked_ at Yosuke, like he thought Yosuke was capable of doing better—that had hurt more than any angry fists or words Souji could have thrown at him.

“Oh, no,” Chie said, a grand two minutes before the time Souji promised he’d meet them at Junes. “What if Nanako-chan hasn’t come out to Souji-kun yet?”

“Does that really matter?”

“Of course it does! You have to be _sensible_ about this kind of thing, Yosuke.” She became pensive, and said, “Before I told my parents about Yukiko, I was always afraid that someone might’ve seen me and Yukiko together and rat us out to them. I was afraid of how they’d react. I mean… you know when you tell someone something you find really embarrassing about yourself? Like your tendency to wet your pants whenever you get stressed out.”

“What the— _shut up_ , Chie,” he hissed. “It isn’t funny!”

“Do I look like I’m laughing?” she said. She smacked him, lightly, on the shoulder. “It’s kind of like that. The way people look at you is different. It… hurts, sometimes. You all were great about it—well, except for you. And Kanji-kun got this nosebleed when we told him.”

That might’ve been because Chie had flipped out and wound up tripping herself into the table while standing up. Kanji, unfortunately, had been in the way of the table’s edge when it came flying into his nose. Although the timing _had_ been pretty suspicious…

“Just let it go,” Yosuke groaned.

“Not until you apologize,” Chie said.

“For _what_?” Yosuke said. “Unless I remember correctly, you still owe me ten thousand yen for that one time you totaled my bike!”

“Well, it all worked out in the end for you, didn’t it? You got your motorcycle three days later!”

“Do you have any idea how far away I live from the school?! Without my bike, I had to get rides from the neighbors, and you know how they felt about me then! _That’s_ what I want the apology for, not for the damn bike!”

The two of them stood there—somehow, whenever they fought, they always wound up on their feet glaring at each other from uncomfortably close distances—both breathing hard for no real reason except that they were having yet _another_ fight over a grudge that should’ve died years ago. For the longest time his parents thought that they’d date. Then Chie joined the police force, and they smiled in a weird way and said that maybe he shouldn’t.

Of course, Souji came in at that point to defuse the tension. Even after all these years, he seemed have a nose for conflict. He came up to them, all calm and grey eyed and soft, mild smiles and said, “Both of you, sit down.”

“Souji-kun,” Chie said. She looked away from both Souji and Yosuke, and sat down. Souji took a seat across from both of them, and after Souji greeted him, Yosuke, too, sat down.

“Sorry, man,” Yosuke said. “I know you’re busy.”

“Chie-san said that it was pretty urgent,” said Souji. “Besides, Nanako wanted me out of the house.”

“Oh, really?” Yosuke asked, cautiously. “Why?”

“She said that she had fallen in love with one of her senpai on the tennis team, and that she was going to Naoto’s house for the night. Kanji’s picking her up.”

“There isn’t a men’s tennis team at Yasogami,” Yosuke blurted out.

“Yes, Yosuke,” Souji said dryly. “As someone who works at the high school, I know what clubs exist and don’t exist.”

Ouch. Sarcasm. So that had been a dumb question. “And that doesn’t bother you?” Yosuke said.

“Does it bother you?” Souji said, but with a relaxed, calm tone—entirely different from Chie’s near bullying. Becoming a police officer hadn’t done anything to improve the rougher aspects of her personality, Yosuke thought with a bit of a scowl.

But with Souji—well, he felt as though he could say anything. Or just about anything, anyway.

“I didn’t expect it,” Yosuke said. “I mean, I’m okay with it. I just don’t get why she wanted to be… I mean, it’s not like she’s really like that, you know?”

“Gay, you mean?” Chie filled in.

“She might be like you and not really care who she’s with,” Yosuke said. “She dated Kyou-kun for a long time.”

“Would that make it easier for you to handle?” Souji said. “If she still liked boys?”

“What the—well, I mean…” He trailed off. “I guess it would, yeah. Kind of feels like just about everyone I know’s normal, but then go off and start making out with their best friends. It’s not that I don’t _like_ gay people.” Even he could sense how stupid he was sounding. “It’s just—it’s… It’s weird, okay? Even if I accept it, that doesn’t mean I have to like them. They’re…”

He looked at Souji, then Chie. He couldn’t say it. He felt as though he should have, sure, but they were his _friends_. They had a version of this conversation before, when Souji came out with his boyfriend. That had been around the same time Chie and Yukiko moved in with each other. The only difference was, Souji had just told him that he didn’t care what Yosuke did in bed, and Yosuke shouldn’t care, either. Now both of them were getting all psychological on his ass, and it was beginning to piss him off.

“C’mon,” he said, a bit weakly. “Do we really need to talk about this?”

“Yes,” Souji said simply. “You don’t want to hurt Nanako, and the first step to keeping others from getting hurt is to understand yourself. I know you don’t mean to hurt people, but sometimes you do. And if you called me, then that means that you want to talk about it.”

Technically, _Chie_ had been the one to call.

“I won’t get angry,” Souji said.

“I won’t, either,” Chie said, which was strangely reassuring.

Yosuke rubbed his nose with his hand, and then said, “It’s not normal. If you’re going to do it like that, then that’s fine, but I’m—I’m not into it. I get you and Yukiko.” That had been relatively easy to accept. After all, they had been such close friends, and had been sending mixed messages all through high school. Souji and his boyfriends had been harder to understand. Yosuke didn’t always like Souji’s girlfriends, either, but something about the idea of Souji having boyfriends set him on edge. Not that he was jealous of them or anything—well, he had been jealous, but it wasn’t because he _wanted_ Souji or anything. He just thought he was losing his best friend to some fag—homo—someone who wasn’t him. “But I—I can’t see myself being like that. No way, man, that’s not the kind of thing I want to do.”

“But you aren’t doing it,” Souji said, calm and even as always. “We’re the ones who are.”

“I _know_ that,” Yosuke said, wincing. “It’s just—it’s weird to me, okay? And I—I just have a lot of… issues with it.”

“Such as?”

“What?”

“The issues you talked about,” Souji said.

“Lay off, man,” Yosuke said. “It was just a slip of the tongue, okay?”

“So, to redirect this conversation back to Nanako-chan,” Chie said. “How does it make you feel that Nanako-chan might be… well… you know…”

“If anyone has issues, it’s probably you,” Yosuke said. “What kind of person sleeps with a woman, but can’t even say she might be gay?”

“I’m not the one who made a girl cry today,” Chie snapped.

“Stop it,” Souji said. “Both of you.”

“Right… right,” Chie said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

Chie smiled, and stood. “Anyway, I’m way later than I expected to be,” she said. “Yukiko’s going to be pissed. I promised I’d help her out with the Inn after work today. You know how busy things get around this season.”

“Tell her that I’ll be there to help tomorrow afternoon,” Souji said.

“Will do.” She bent down to hug Souji, and then was off. Souji turned to face Yosuke, and Yosuke said, “I should get going now, too.”

“Let’s keep talking,” Souji said.

“C’mon, man, can’t we put this off until later? Tomorrow, at least.”

“You’re still feeling bad about Nanako,” Souji said. “Let’s talk about her for a while, at least.”

“No way, man. I already feel shitty enough without you guilting me.”

“Do you think I’d do that to you?”

“Fine. No, you wouldn’t. I just don’t want to talk anymore. Happy?” Yosuke rubbed his nose again. “Look, man, I gotta go home. Need to get up early to help set up shop. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Make some time for me in the afternoon,” Souji said. “We can go out to the shopping district to eat.”

“Right.” He pushed the chair in. “Sorry you came all the way here.”

Souji’s smile was a bit disappointed, but he patted Yosuke’s shoulder, and gave it a squeeze. “No one hates you,” he said. “Just make sure you talk with Nanako the next time you see her. She’s young. She needs all the support she can get.”

“Right, partner. Anything for you.” But not like _that_ , he wanted to add, but didn’t. He was straight, and Souji wasn’t, and that was fine. Every now and then, though, he wondered. They were awfully close for friends, and for a while he was—it was a bit embarrassing, but he used to think Souji might ask him out or something, and dreaded the day because it’d be _awkward_.

But why would Souji ask him out, anyway? He had told Naoto about it once, and Naoto had just suggested that Yosuke might want Souji _like that_ and Yosuke had flipped. It wasn’t on purpose, but seriously, he was _straight_.

“Hey, man,” Yosuke said. “Why’d you start dating those guys?”

“Why?” Souji stopped walking, and stared up to the right for a while. “Well, I found them attractive.”

“You weren’t just running out of girlfriends?” Yosuke joked, and Souji smiled. “How did you know?”

“When blood starts rushing into my pants. Other than that? It’s never really mattered to me. To some people it might, but I’ve never had a problem with it.” Souji mused for a bit more, and then said, “You said that it’s not normal. Well, it’s what’s normal for me.”

And did that really matter? Did that change anything?

Too many things to think about. He had never thought about it too much, but now that he had started, he couldn’t _stop_. Okay, fine, some guys were predisposed to making out with other dudes, and some girls really liked kissing other girls.

So what? What did that mean, if his friends were all like that and he wasn’t? Well, sure, Rise was pretty straight, and so was Naoto, and Teddie was, too, and so was he. As far as he knew, at least.

 

\---

 

Between Kanji, Rise, Naoto, and Nanako, Rise was the best card player out of all of them, with Kanji just behind her, and Naoto and Nanako competing for the spot of dead last. It was not a fact Naoto was proud of, but she was just plain _awful_ at cards, and Kanji would sometimes end up blundering his hands because of her mistakes, which, in turn, caused her to blunder, as well.

Even so, she didn’t have the heart to tell Kanji that in a game of Hearts, one wanted to pass the cards with the greatest face value to someone else, rather than give them the cards with the least value.

“Who has the two of clubs?” Rise asked.

“I do. Hold on, I need to arrange my hand…” Nanako stuck a tongue out the side of her mouth as she set her cards in order. Once everything was set, she put down the two of clubs down, and yet another game started.

Presently, the score went like this: Rise was leading with eleven points total. Kanji had twenty one points. Naoto had eighty-two, and Nanako had seventy-one.

Never mind competing with Nanako for the position of last. Naoto was just plain dead last. Had Kanji sensed that and she would be losing, and gave her an easy hand? Although her entire hand was full of relatively low-ranking cards. Good. Fewer chances of accumulating more points. Given by the lack of outcry from Rise about the quality of her hand, Naoto could only conclude that Rise and Nanako had relatively good hands, as well—which meant that Kanji was possibly losing on purpose. Later, she’d have to talk with him.

“Are you planning on staying the night, Nanako-chan?” Naoto asked.

“Can I?” she asked. “I don’t want to stay if it’ll be an inconvenience.”

“She can stay over at my place,” said Rise with a giggle. “I wouldn’t mind having her. The paparazzi won’t come near me as long as Chie-senpai’s out on the street.”

“Her shift ended during the afternoon today,” Naoto pointed out.

“Really?” And then, under her breath, she said, “Damn.”

“Dojima-san’s gone to investigate a murder in a neighboring town,” Naoto said. Should she break hearts? No, not yet. Better not take any risks. “Something about a copy-cat murder of the Inaba case back in 2011. I believe Souji-senpai’s already given permission for her to stay, and it’s not like we had any plans tonight.”

“’sides, you’re never an inconvenience,” Kanji pointed out. “Playin’ cards with you guys is great. I’m having a lot of fun.”

How fun was it to be losing so badly in the six tricks, Naoto wanted to ask, although she hadn’t really played much of a part in contributing to his losing hands.

“So why the impromptu visit?” Rise asked, which was just plain ironic, given that the reason Kanji and Naoto had canceled their night out was because Rise had dropped in during the afternoon to hide from the paparazzi. And then she said, “Oh, Nanako! Why did you break hearts?”

“Excuse me?” Naoto asked. Nanako, across from her, was wide-eyed and startled, and echoed Naoto’s question.

“Sorry,” she said. “Should I have not done that?”

“Once you puts the cards down, you can’t put ‘em back up,” Kanji said gruffly, but he was grinning like a goof. “C’mon, let’s break them hearts.”

“I broke up with Kyou-kun,” Nanako said.

There was an awkward silence. Kanji and Naoto stared at each other over their cards and were, evidently, having parallel struggles to find something to say without feeling awkward. Thankfully, Rise seemed to still have a few words in her.

“That’s too bad,” she said. She nudged Kanji on the side with her elbow, and he said, “Come over here” and squeezed Nanako’s shoulders. Rise put her cards face down and said to Naoto, “Is the tea in the same place as it was last time?”

“I’ll do it,” said Naoto. “This is my house, after all.”

“Well, I did ruin your date night,” said Rise. “I might as well make it up to you somehow.”

Naoto glanced behind her. Kanji mouthed, “I got a handle on this”, and Naoto, satisfied, followed Rise into the kitchen.

She had thought that Nanako looked a bit upset when she had arrived, and had confirmed that Nanako had been crying, but, because Nanako was making an effort to ignore it, actively avoided the subject for most of the night. Still, the probability of Nanako breaking up with Kyou Ogawa within the next three months was something around seventy-two percent. As part of a morbid intellectual exercise (and in part because Souji had been a bit _too_ insistent on knowing the probability of Nanako being hurt), Naoto had drawn up a list of reasons why Nanako might break up with Kyou Ogawa. Number one on the list was the tennis team. The two of them were good friends, but the tennis team had blown a rift between the two. Naoto and Kanji had given some awkward tips on how to maintain long-term relationships (Rise was the one who was actually helpful in this regard), but the second Nanako’s team qualified for the inter-district tournament, Naoto anticipated the termination of their relationship within the month.

Now that it had actually happened, though, she felt like a jerk.

“That’s too bad, isn’t it?” Rise said. “I mean, I knew they didn’t have much chemistry, but I didn’t think she’d be so upset about breaking up with him. She told me that she ought to break up with Kyou-kun soon last month.”

“Did she?” Naoto catalogued this in her head, not so much as ‘evidence’ as it was ‘as a plea for Souji to not go and loom over Kyou Ogawa for the rest of the month’. “I can’t say it was unexpected. I heard that Kyou-kun was getting upset by how much time Nanako-chan was spending with the tennis team.”

“Where’d you hear that?” Rise asked, suspicious.

“I am hiring a high school student as a secretary right now,” Naoto said. Her cell went off, and Naoto answered it with a murmured, “Speak of the devil.”

Over the phone, her secretary cleared her throat and said, “Shirogane-san, I found the files you were looking for. Do you want me to bring them over now?”

On one hand, she was entertaining a guest. On the other, she did have deadlines, and Kanji wouldn’t hold it against her if she at least took a cursory look at the papers. “Bring them to my office, Asakura-san,” she said. “I’m entertaining a guest right now, so please, enter through the side door. Do you have the key?”

“Yes. I’ll see you then, Shirogane-san.”

Naoto hung up. Rise was pouting at her. “You’re still working?”

“I have to make a living,” Naoto said, defensively, although she was aware of how silly she sounded, standing in the Shirogane Manor and saying that. “And I’m not planning on looking at them now.” That was a lie, technically. One that Rise saw right through. Naoto tried to not look too stung, but suspected she mostly looked mildly constipated.

They returned to the parlor room with tea and cake. After they finished the cake, they completed the hand, and the game: Kanji shot the moon and won the game. After that, they moved onto Mahjong, because Naoto’s competitive streak was taking something of a beating. The Shirogane Manor might’ve been a giant, Western style house, but she had grown up playing Mahjong rather than cards, and she cleared the house in a matter of minutes. Things were going well, right up until Naoto went to refill the teapot with more hot water. When she returned, Asakura was in the parlor, and both Nanako and Asakura were visibly flustered.

“Shirogane-san,” she said. “Um, I was… looking for you.” Looking between Nanako and Naoto, she bowed and thrust the papers out to Naoto. “Here.”

“Thank you, Asakura-san,” said Naoto. “You may leave now.”

“Right. Goodbye, Shirogane-san, Tatsumi-san. Kujikawa-san. Nana… Dojima-san.”

Well. That had been unusually awkward. Naoto looked at the table, where her friends and Nanako were sitting, then at Asakura’s retreating back.

Then Rise said, “ _Oh_.”

 

\---

 

From time to time, Naoto felt almost insulted by Inaba’s smallness. A coincidence like this never would’ve happened in the city, but in Inaba everyone was connected to one another in small and inconvenient ways.

For example, to take the Inaba Serial Murderer and Kidnapping Case of 2011 (often shortened to ‘the April incident’). Yukiko Amagi had been one of the prime suspects for the murder of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi for a time, on the sole basis of circumstantial evidence revolving around Yamano’s words to Yukiko’s mother, and her disappearance a few days after Konishi’s death.

Or to take the Tatsumi Textile’s Missing Socks case, which involved hunting down every single pet in Inaba back to their owners and asking them if they had seen any extra socks lying around, because there had been fur inside Kanji’s then empty sock drawer. The culprit had been the fox living at the shrine, and once Kanji saw the state of the socks, he knitted himself new ones and that had been that.

But for Nanako to fall in love with Naoto’s secretary—well, it was another case of small town interconnectivity syndrome. Kanji’s first instinct was to go and shake down Asakura, but Naoto had a good grasp on Asakura’s character, and was more inclined to seat Asakura down the next morning and talk things out with her. It wasn’t that Asakura was a bad person, and if there was one thing Naoto had learned from Yosuke over the years, it was that the knee-jerk reaction of most teenagers to homosexuality was, while painful, normal, and effort needed to be made on both sides to help mend the relationship.

Not that Yosuke had been doing much to mend things on that front. Yosuke had a remarkable ability to ignore his own issues by deflecting them with jokes that invariably ended with someone wanting to punch him in the face.

Speaking of Yosuke.

“Have you talked to Yosuke-senpai about this?” Rise asked. “Or with Souji-senpai?”

“I talked to both of them,” Nanako said. She smoothed out her dress. “And to Chie-san on the way back home from Junes. I know that I already told big bro, but I don’t want to talk to him, so I thought I’d be able to talk to Yosuke-san, but then I remembered… um, well, when I was ten. Remember when I asked you what it meant to be gay?”

It took Naoto a second to remember what exactly Nanako was talking about. Then she remembered. That had been the cause of the fight between Kanji and Yosuke, some years ago. Come to think of it, that had been around the same time when Nanako began going out with Kyou. Naoto had chalked Nanako’s questioning to normal, pre-teen inquisitiveness at the time, but in retrospect, it could have been an attempt to establish her “normalcy.”

Thank goodness that Adachi had been put away. Naoto didn’t want to think about the mess there would’ve been if Nanako had been thrown into the TV _then_.

“I told him Jun-san’s full name,” said Nanako. “And he froze up. And then I told big bro and… I don’t know. I don’t want to talk to either of them.”

“That was brave of you,” Rise said. “Really. I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

“Uh-huh,” Nanako said, clearly unconvinced.

“Hey,” said Kanji. “She’s serious. Takes a lot of guts to come out to your friends and family. Hell, I didn’t tell Ma for three years. Even though I knew she’d take it easy, I was too damn afraid that she’d think I was a freak or somethin’. If it weren’t for the shadow, I would’ve told her I liked mostly guys.”

“You were scared?”

“W-well,” Kanji said, drawing himself up, as though he was ready to declare that he hadn’t been. Then he deflated and said, “Yeah. Yeah, I was.”

“But I didn’t want to tell big bro,” Nanako said. “Is that normal?”

“Sure it is,” Kanji said. “It’s hard tellin’ anyone. ‘specially since not everyone’s gonna be acceptin’ of it. But Inaba’s a nice place. Not even the old ladies give much of a shit now.”

“Then why did Jun-senpai try to push me out of the tennis club?” Nanako asked. She pulled her knees up to her chest and furrowed her brow.

“Just give it time,” said Rise. “Give her a bit of space. You shouldn’t quit the tennis club or stop going to practice or avoid her, but you _should_ show that you’re not going to be pushed around, and that you’re still Nanako Dojima, tennis champ. Okay?”

“… Yeah.”

“On the other hand, you should go to talk to Yosuke-senpai immediately,” Rise said. “I’m sure he feels like crap.”

“We could do the talkin’ for you,” Kanji said, half as a joke and half as a threat. “’Course, he probably didn’t mean nothing by it.”

“I think I can talk to him by myself. Thanks for the offer.” She beamed at him, and Kanji rubbed the back of his head and said, “Naw, it’s no problem.” He looked to Naoto, and jerked his head to Nanako, as though to say, ‘c’mon, say something.’ But was there to say? She had never felt much wavering in her attraction to men, regardless of her conflicting gender identities. Besides, Rise was much better at comforting Nanako than Naoto was, and if Naoto told Nanako that she was planning on talking to Asakura, then Nanako might try to talk her out of it, and _look_ at her until Naoto folded.

“Er,” she said. “Call us if you have any trouble with him. The house is always open to you, Nanako-chan.”

“Thank you, Naoto-san.”

“But tomorrow, you have to go back to your house for the night,” Naoto said. “Souji-senpai will want to talk to you, and you shouldn’t avoid him for too long. Understood?”

“… Understood.”

“Great,” Rise said. “Nanako-chan, let’s paint our nails. Kanji-kun, do you want to join us?”

“Hell no,” he said.

“Then shoo,” she said. “Naoto-kun? How about you?”

“I’ll pass,” she said, getting up with Kanji. “We’ll prepare the guest rooms for you two.”

“Mm,” Rise said. “Hmm, what color do you think would look best on you, Nana-chan, pale salmon rose or salmon pink?”

What was the difference, Naoto wanted to ask, but then they were out of the room and Kanji was kissing her, slow and hard.

“Been meaning to do that all night,” he said, nipping at her jaw. “Think we could sneak in a date while they’re busy with their nails?”

“Maybe in the kitchen,” she said. “We could do the dishes.”

He grinned crookedly. “How about we bake instead?” he said. “What’s the point in havin’ a dishwasher if you never use it?”

It wasn’t a dinner in the city and a musical, but it was still romantic, nonetheless.

 

\---

 

Souji met Yosuke at almost exactly four-thirty in front of Daidara. Souji was checking out one of the katana, while Yosuke admired his friend’s form. Souji practiced kendo with a few members of the police department so he wouldn’t get too rusty. Yosuke wound up taking up judo, and had briefly considered archery, but the only archery range in town was at the high school, and he felt damn awkward, standing at his old high school like that.

“It’s too bad,” Souji said, sheathing the sword and handing it back to the owner of the shop. “I don’t think I can afford it right now.”

“Teacher’s salary, huh,” Yosuke said.

“Not only that, but the last time I was practicing with my shinai, I broke a light bulb.” He raised his arms up, and then mimed glass coming down on his head. “It’s a good thing I’m still living with Dojima-san, because otherwise I’d be living on instant ramen.”

“The student loans suck, don’t they?” Yosuke said. “Makes me glad Dad taught me himself.”

“Yes.” They left the store, and headed for Aiya’s. Souji requested a table off to the side, where no one could hear them, and Yosuke felt a bit stung. He had hoped Souji forgot about the talk, and that they’d be able to hang out like usual, but evidently not.

“First thing is first, Yosuke,” Souji said seriously. “I’m glad you were there for Nanako. You might think you screwed it up, but she appreciates that you listened to her yesterday. You handled yourself pretty well.”

“I know when I mess up, man,” Yosuke said, trying to hide behind the menu. “Chie said that she found Nanako-chan crying on her way back home.”

“Well, she’s under a lot of stress right now,” Souji said. “Her teacher talked to me during lunch break and asked me how things were going at home. It was pretty embarrassing for me. Yamazaki-sensei insinuated that Dojima-san and I weren’t good enough to watch out for Nanako’s well being.”

Ayaka Yamazaki. Friendly, but admittedly something of a bitch when she thought she had something to say. She had been rallying against Junes for years, although by now Junes and the shopping district had come to something of an agreement. Junes stocked items from the shopping district, and shared some of the profits with the original store owners, and sponsored the “shop local” movement. Business had been good for both areas for years.

“Don’t call her a bitch, Yosuke,” Souji warned lightly. “She might be outspoken, but she has good intentions.”

“She said that you can’t look out for your own sister,” said Yosuke. “I don’t get how you can be nice to everyone all the time.”

“I learned it from you,” Souji said.

“That’s putting on a mask for appearances,” Yosuke said. “You actually _mean_ it.”

“Sometimes it’s just a matter of putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. For example, when Chie and Yukiko told us that they were living with one another a few years ago, you only stopped making jokes because Chie would’ve hit you.”

“Well, yeah. I wasn’t…” He sighed. “I’m not proud of myself, okay?”

“What would you have done differently?”

“Come on, partner.”

“I’m not trying to bully you,” he said. “But I do want you to talk to me. This has been hanging between us for years, and I don’t want it to destroy our friendship.”

“What the—why would it do anything like that?” Yosuke laughed, but it was forced. The waiter came, and they placed their orders.

Souji didn’t answer the question, but instead asked, “Why do you think it would destroy our friendship, Yosuke?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that even I’m human,” Souji said. “When you call people ‘homos’ or ‘fags’, that hurts me. And it’s like every time I bring anyone back home, you keep trying to drive them away, and that hurts, too. Do you know why I didn’t introduce my last girlfriend to you? Because every time I bring a girl to meet you, you tell them I’m actually gay. You know what Takeshi told me just before we broke up? He told me he couldn’t be with me if he had to compete with you for my attention every day.”

What the hell. Yosuke gripped the edge of his menu, but when it startled to crumple, he let it fall to the table. “Are you saying you think I’m gay?” he said.

“I’m only saying that I would like to be able to introduce my significant other to you without worrying that you’ll end up breaking us up,” Souji said. “That’s all.”

“No, you just said that Takeshi-san said I was competing with him,” Yosuke said. “I’m not like that, man, I’m really not.”

“That’s what he said, not me,” Souji said.

“And what would you say?” Yosuke said. “Don’t pull any punches.”

Souji frowned. He didn’t look happy. He looked, in fact, a little angry. Good. Yosuke wanted him to be angry. He was tired of always being the one to lose his cool.

“Don’t push me, Yosuke,” he said.

“Come on, _partner_ ,” he said. “We’re _pals_ , right? Unless you want to be more than that—god, I just—I just want to get a straight answer out of you. Tell me what you think of me!”

“You really want to know?” Souji put the menu flat on the table, and leaned in, his jaw tight and eyes narrowed, ever-so-slightly. “I think you’re my best friend, Yosuke, who sometimes says the wrong thing because you’re uncomfortable with it. I think that even though you’re sensitive, you pretend to not be whenever something hits a little too close. I appreciate and value your input and presence and everything you’ve done for me over the last nine years. You’re more than just a friend to me: you’re like my family. And I think you’ve been attracted to me for years, but haven’t been able to come out and say it. _That’s_ what I think.”

“You’re crazy,” Yosuke said. Him, be attracted to Souji? No way. “Quit joking around.”

“I’m not joking,” he said. “That’s what I really think. I think Takeshi was right when he said he was competing with you for my attention. I think that my girlfriends were right when they said you were jealous of them. And I’m going to leave it at that.”

“Look, man, just because you want to have sex with me doesn’t mean—”

“I don’t want to have sex with you,” Souji said. “That’s not what I want.”

“Then what do you want?” Yosuke shouted. Thank God the store was nearly empty at this hour, because he was vaguely aware that he was making a scene.

“I want to be your friend,” Souji said simply, but that wasn’t true, was it? God, Souji thought Yosuke was attracted to him—like hell he was. God, had Souji been _looking_ at him?

No. Yosuke forced himself to calm down. Souji wasn’t like that. Souji was… Souji was normal. His best friend. But Yosuke couldn’t let the topic die, he couldn’t.

“God, Souji, I knew you were a psych major, but I never thought you’d try to pull that kind of bullshit on me.”

“I’m not talking to you as a guidance counselor,” said Souji. “I’m talking to you as my friend, _partner_.”

“You just said I was gay. What’s so friendly about that?”

“I never said you were,” Souji replied. “It’s possible to be attracted to a man and still be straight. Sometimes certain people of the same sex attract you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. And right now, I’m being your friend by being honest with you. You asked what I really thought, and I told you.”

“You’re wrong,” Yosuke said.

“All right.”

“You’re—god, you’re so _wrong_.”

“Am I wrong, or is my sexuality wrong?”

“Don’t do this, man,” Yosuke said.

“I want you to be honest with me, too,” Souji said. “I can’t keep giving into you, Yosuke.”

“Don’t make yourself look like a victim,” Yosuke said. “I’m not—I’m not like that, I’m just _not_. And it’s not wrong if I think that you’re getting things completely messed up, that’s just—god. I hate it when you do this to me.”

“All right.”

“Let’s drop this.”

“All right, Yosuke.”

“I can’t talk about this.”

“Yes,” Souji murmured. “You’ve made that clear, at least.”

Yosuke pretended he didn’t hear it, and the dinner went on. They left Aiya’s in silence, and did not speak to each other as they headed to their respective homes alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Nanako and Souji stopped by the Amagi Inn to help with the post-winter flux of visitors. Nanako and Souji had talked with each other, although from Yukiko’s observations, both of them seemed a bit… down. She wished Chie wasn’t on patrol right now; although she had heard a truncated version of last night’s events from her, Yukiko could have benefited from a more thorough rehash.

Nanako was helping out in the garden, while Souji was in the kitchens. Both of them were using the work to distract themselves from whatever was on their minds, and while Yukiko had expected Nanako to be a bit down, she hadn’t expected Souji to come in with a storm cloud hovering over his head. When the giant party of visitors lightened up a bit, she decided to take a break. Since the kitchen was crowded enough as it was, she went out to the gardens, where Nanako was squinting at a gardening book she had borrowed from the library.

“Sorry, Yukiko-san,” Nanako said, wiping her bangs from her brow. “I think I just killed those irises over there.”

“You’re dripping wet,” Yukiko said. “Did you fall into the river?” She called one of the maids to fetch a towel, and wrapped it around Nanako’s shoulders. “You should have asked someone for a towel. Come inside. I’ll find a change of clothes for you.”

Shivering, Nanako tailed Yukiko back to the living quarters. Nanako was tall and slight, but Yukiko reckoned that Chie’s clothes, while a bit short, would fit. While Nanako changed, Yukiko took the wet clothes and hung them up to dry.

“Yukiko-san?” Nanako asked when she returned.

“Yes?”

“How much did Chie-san tell you?”

“Hmm. She said that you liked Junko Asakura-san, and that Yosuke became upset. That’s all I know.”

Nanako sat on the bed, and crossed her legs. It reminded Yukiko of when Nanako was a little kid and insist on having sleepovers at the Inn. She stopped that around middle school, after Yukiko’s mother joked that she ought to start charging Nanako. It had just been a joke, but Nanako always took the strangest things too seriously. The last time Nanako stayed over, Yukiko and Chie had to talk her out of paying for a room. Yukiko took a place next to Nanako and said, “What happened?”

“Big bro and Yosuke-san are fighting again,” she said.

“Oh, my.” Yukiko didn’t have to ask why; between Souji’s terse answers and what Chie had told her, she could guess well enough. Over the years, she suspected the depths of Yosuke’s affection for Souji went beyond friendship, but while Chie plotted good-humored revenge, Yukiko dreaded the day Yosuke realized this. He had blustered and fumbled his way through other people’s outings, and undoubtedly would end up panicking when he finally figured out why he disliked the very idea of Souji being in a relationship.

“I think it’s my fault,” Nanako said.

“What happens between Souji-kun and Yosuke-kun is between them,” Yukiko said. “You don’t have anything to do with it, Nanako-chan.”

“How do you know?”

“Things have been a little… tense between them for years,” she said. “Is that it?”

“No,” Nanako admitted. “Not really. I went to practice today. Jun-senpai wasn’t there, and the only person who would talk to me was Mizuki-senpai. The coach had to ask the other varsity members to play me. He’s never had to do that before. Normally he only does that for a few people on the intramural team.”

“Give it time,” Yukiko advised. “Don’t let it get you down, Nanako-chan. If you have to, you should confront them directly. They shouldn’t have a right to treat you badly just because of something that happens with Asakura-san.”

“I know you’re right, but it still makes me mad,” she said. “I think the rumor’s making its way through the rest of the school.”

“All the more reasons to talk with the team,” Yukiko said. “If you don’t fight back, then they’ll keep picking on you.”

Nanako stared at her, and then giggled. “It’s kind of funny to hear you talk about confronting people, Yukiko-san. Everyone I know thinks you’re like one of those dolls you get on Girl’s Day.”

Yukiko laughed at that, a bit uneasily. She knew it was meant as a compliment, but it still stung, a little. She still avoided watching fantasy shows and reading Western fantasy novels; seeing her middle and high school self reflected in there embarrassed her more than she wanted to admit.

“You can’t run a business if you don’t stand up for yourself,” Yukiko said instead. “Nanako-chan, the only way to make them stop is to talk to them directly. How did your friends take it?”

“They said that the senpai had to have been lying, and that they didn’t believe the rumors,” Nanako said. “Well, I told them that I had a crush on Jun-senpai, but they said that it was normal and that I’d grow out of it.”

Her parents had said the same thing. They didn’t mind it now—at least, they didn’t seem to—but when Yukiko told them that she was seeing Chie, and that Chie was the only person she wanted to be with now, the first things out of their mouths had been, “It’s just a phase. You’ll grow out of it.” And then at the end of the year they suggested it was about time for Yukiko to move on, and kept suggesting it for two, three, four years until the two of them actually broke up for a few months. They were back together before the year was out, and moved in with one another not long after that.

Her parents had actually seemed relieved, after all of that drama. At least this way the business would stay in the family, and they had always liked Chie, anyway. But as for whether or not it was just a stage… Yukiko didn’t know. It wasn’t as much that she liked women or men exclusively, as much as it was that she was attracted to a certain set of qualities in people. Male or female really didn’t seem to have any bearing on that.

“I think,” Yukiko said carefully, “that it’s not unusual for someone to have a crush on someone of the same sex. Some people know who or what they’re looking for from a young age, and for others, it comes a little later. It’s okay if you feel confused or lost, but we’ll always be here for you, okay? You can tell us anything. Have you told Dojima-san yet?”

“He’s out of town,” Nanako said. “I don’t want to tell him on the phone. I guess I’ll tell him… later. Yukiko-san?”

“Yes?”

“I think I’m a lesbian. I think. Maybe.” She made a face, and then exhaled. “That was hard.” Since her clothes had finished drying, Nanako went to help clean the empty rooms.

Yukiko's next destination: the kitchen.

 

\---

 

It wasn’t Yosuke’s fault. Or at least, that was what he was trying to tell himself. Yes, he had reacted badly to Souji, but Souji had been the one to push him. He had warned Souji to not push things too far, but Souji _had_ , which made it Souji’s fault, not Yosuke’s. And then he had practically come onto Yosuke—god, didn’t he have any shame?

Although Souji hadn’t done anything like that. Yosuke knew that. Souji had just called him gay, and he wasn’t gay, he _liked_ girls. He had girlfriends. Sure, he tended to break up with them within a year or so, but he _wanted_ girls. He had never even looked at a guy that way before. Sure, he appreciated a guy with nice muscles, but that was just because he liked working out, too, and could appreciate a good body just as well as anyone. But that didn’t mean he _wanted_ it.

Whatever. He needed to talk to someone about it. Chie was out of the question, Yukiko was too busy, and there was no way in hell he was talking to Kanji. That left Naoto and Rise, and of the two, Naoto was more likely to be free, given how closely the press shadowed Rise. He doubted he’d be able to go anywhere near the second floor of Marukyu Tofu without having his face plastered on the tabloids and being on the receiving end of the hate of tens of thousands of fanboys.

But when the butler let him into the Shirogane Manor, it was Rise who greeted him, not Naoto.

“Ooh, you were fighting with senpai, weren’t you?” Rise giggled. “Come on in.”

“Never mind,” he said. “I’m going home.”

“Come on, Yosuke-senpai. I’m not going to bite. Besides, Naoto’s busy talking with Jun-san, and Kanji’s working on a few late orders at his shop.”

What the hell. It had been a long day, and he wanted to talk with someone. Besides, it was Rise, and Rise was good at handling people. “What are you doing here, anyway?” he said, entering the house.

“Well, the paparazzi can’t exactly get into the Manor that easily,” she said, indicating the expansive garden, tall iron fence, and the presence of the butler, who, in fact, looked kind of creepy. “So, let’s get down to business. You were fighting with senpai, weren’t you?” Before Yosuke could ask how she knew, Rise said, “Naoto-kun got a call from Yukiko-senpai, who told me to expect you while she talked with Jun-san.”

“As in Junko Asakura? What the—how did she find Asakura so fast?” Yosuke said.

“Jun-san works as Naoto-kun’s secretary.”

Well, who would’ve thought. Then again, it wasn’t like Inaba was a big place. “Huh,” he said instead.

“Don’t even think about talking to Jun-san,” Rise said. “This is about you.” She led him to the parlor, and took a seat on a bright red couch. Yosuke took the blue sofa next to the couch, and grunted a bit when he sank into it.

“How much did Yukiko-san tell you?” he said wearily. What the hell. Of course Yukiko would have talked to Souji. Souji had said that he’d go to help Yukiko with the inn. With Golden Week coming up soon, the entire gang would drop by to make sure she took a break every now and then. The Amagi Inn had been formally turned over to Yukiko three years ago, and after that it became harder to get a hold of her; come to think of it, the last time he had talked to Yukiko face-to-face was almost two months ago. He sent messages to her through Chie and Kanji, but it wasn’t really the same. Between their respective jobs, schedules, and lives, both in the real world and inside the TV, it had been a while since all eight of them got together.

“The only thing she said was that Souji-senpai was mad at you, and that you’d probably come to talk with Naoto or me,” said Rise. “What were you fighting about this time?”

What _had_ they been fighting about? It had started out with Nanako and his blunder, and then went onto Souji and Chie getting on his case for being an occasional dipshit when he wanted to… improve his attitude towards that kind of thing. And then Souji had called him gay and now he was with Rise. Good old Rise, straight as an arrow. But for some reason it didn’t make him all that comfortable with himself. God. He was being an asshole again. Why would it matter if she was straight or not? He _knew_ it didn’t matter, so why did he even think about it?

“We were having dinner at Aiya’s,” he said. He rested his elbows on his knees. “And he said that the entire—gay thing had been an issue between us for years, and he didn’t want us to get screwed over it. Then I said why it’d screw us over, and he said I was a fag for him.”

“Uh-huh,” Rise said.

“You don’t look that surprised,” Yosuke said suspiciously.

“Well, it’s not like you weren’t obvious,” she said.

“So you’re saying you think I’m a fag.” He gave Rise a flat look.

“I’m saying that you obviously had a thing for senpai,” said Rise. “You were always clinging onto him and getting jealous whenever he brought someone home and—you call him _partner_.”

“So?” Yosuke said. “That doesn’t make me gay.”

“Did senpai ever say you were gay, or do you just _think_ he said you were gay?” Rise said pointedly.

Yosuke opened his mouth, and then closed it, because she was right: Souji had never said that he was gay. In fact, he had said that it was possible to be straight, but still be gay for one person.

“He didn’t say it,” he said. “But how can you be gay just for one person? I don’t get it.”

“Well, sometimes you just like them,” Rise said with a little giggle. “Don’t you think Naoto-kun’s kind of cool? I had such a crush on her, even after she was thrown into the TV. And don’t say that it’s just because of the hat.”

“On _Naoto_ -kun? Well, I kind of expected that…”

She threw a cushion at his head. He caught it, and tossed it back at her. “You look like such a creep when you wink at people. So what did Souji really say?”

Yosuke scoffed. “All this crap how I was like a clingy girlfriend. Said I was obviously in love with him and how he was sick of me following him like a dumb dog.”

“Really?”

“Close enough,” he said.

“Hmm.” Rise steepled her fingers together, and pressed them to her mouth. “Yosuke-senpai, what bothers you more? That Nanako-chan might be gay, or that you might be?”

“What’s the point in answering it?” Yosuke said.

“Because to me, it seems like you don’t really mind if Kanji-kun and Souji-senpai likes boys and girls, or if Yukiko-senpai and Chie-senpai live together, or if Nanako-chan has a crush on another girl,” Rise said. “What bothers you is that you’re worried that _you_ might be gay.”

“Why would—no!” He nearly got up and left, but Rise was making that ‘I’m innocent, don’t yell at me’ look, and he sat down again.

“Calm down, senpai,” Rise said. “I didn’t say that you’re gay, okay? I just said that you think you might be, and whenever someone comes out to you, you freak out because you don’t want to think you might be attracted to men that way.”

“No way. I—I’m not like that at all.”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Rise said, raising her voice. “You don’t mind it if other people prefer boys or girls, but you mind it if it’s _you_ who likes boys. And you know something, Yosuke-senpai? I think Souji-senpai’s right. You want Souji-senpai, and if not sexually, then at the very least, you want him romantically. So _there_.”

“You know what? I’m sick of this argument.” Yosuke stood up, but Rise said, “Sit down, senpai. You came here to talk, and I’m not going to let you walk off just because you’re all upset.”

“You and what army?” Yosuke said, but returned to the sofa anyway. Then he laughed and said, “Kanji would have a field day if he heard this.”

“Kanji-kun doesn’t care, senpai,” Rise said. “He’s just mad that you teased him so much about it, because it made him feel like crap.”

“I know, I know,” Yosuke said. “Quit throwing so much crap at me.” But she had a point. It… He didn’t really care now, at least, whether or not Souji liked boys or girls, or whether Chie and Yukiko were seeing one another. He might’ve, when he was younger and less mature, but now? It didn’t bother him that much. It _did_ bother him that Souji had other people. That Souji was interested in people who weren’t _him_. He… he wanted more time with Souji. More of Souji’s attention. There. So maybe Souji was a little right. But it wasn’t because Yosuke wanted Souji like that. It was just because Souji was his best friend, that was all.

When Nanako… came out… to him, he had been shaken because, god, if _Nanako_ of all people was gay, after all those years she had spent talking with him about boys, all those years of dating boys, all those years without seeming gay at all, then what about him? If he hadn’t seen it in Kanji or Souji or Nanako, how could he see it in himself? Because he _had_ dated girls, but most of the time it just didn’t work. He had told himself that it was just because he hadn’t found the right person, but what if it was something else?

He wasn’t gay. He knew that. But that didn’t mean he was completely straight, either.

“Let’s say… hypothetically, let’s say that you’re right,” said Yosuke. “What should I do?”

“First thing is to apologize to Souji-senpai,” Rise said, wagging one finger under his nose. “The second thing is to talk to Nanako-chan. She really wants to talk to you, senpai.”

“How is she holding up?” Yosuke asked.

“She’s fine,” Rise said. “The tennis team’s bullying her, and her teacher thinks she’s a wreck on two legs, but Yukiko-senpai says she’s doing pretty well, all things considering. I’m sure she’d be a lot happier if you would talk to her.”

“I get it, I get it,” Yosuke said. “I’ll track her down tomorrow.” He sat on the couch for a second, trying to collect himself. Then he said, “Thanks, Rise-chan. You really helped me out.”

“Never doubt my feminine intuition,” she said with a wink. “Are you leaving now?”

“I want some time to think,” he said. Well, actually, it was because there was a TV show he wanted to watch.

“Aww. Too bad.” She pouted, and followed him to the door. Just as she opened the door, the Shirogane’s butler led a girl to the door. Yosuke stared. So this was Jun Asakura. She didn’t look anything like Yosuke had thought she’d look like. He had expected her to look like one of those stuck-up girls who worked in Junes; instead, Asakura looked… incredibly level-headed. A plain face, with a hint of levity pulling at her brow. Dark hair with a little wave, worn in a ponytail.

“Um,” said Asakura. “can I help you with something?”

“You’re Junko Asakura?” Yosuke asked. She nodded. “You made my little sister cry.”

“What?”

“Nanako Dojima,” he said. Well, Nanako was practically his little sister, anyway, given the amount of time he had spent with her. He knew Dojima didn’t disapprove of him, and he had a mug reserved for him at the Dojima’s house.

“I didn’t mean to,” she said, her face reddening. Oh, god. She looked like she had been crying. Just what Yosuke needed to do: make _two_ girls cry in two days. Good god, what had Naoto done to her? “Geeze, it was like I couldn’t help myself. The words flew out of my mouth, and then…”

Crap. She was crying.

“Excuse me,” she said, ducking down to tie her shoelaces. She took off shortly after that.

“Great job, senpai,” Rise said.

“Don’t mention it,” Yosuke said through grit teeth. What was one more crying girl going to do to him, anyway?

 

\---

 

Naoto woke up in her study with a book pressing against the side of her face and Rise thumbing through sheets of music, humming to herself. It took a moment for her to reorient herself to the land of the waking. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was just past ten o’clock at night. Kanji still wasn’t home; undoubtedly, the rush order was keeping him busier than he expected. As she stretched, Rise looked up and grinned, almost mischievously.

“I told Yakushiji-san that you weren’t allowed in here,” Naoto said.

“He’s asleep now,” she said. “I can’t believe that you made Jun-san cry.”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Naoto said. And then, resorting to the favorite excuse of every fifth grader, she said, “She started it.”

“Ooh.” Rise put her folder of music aside and said, “Tell me, tell me.”

“Asakura-san came in for work instead of going to practice,” said Naoto. “I told her she was early, and she said that she wanted to talk. She asked me how I knew Nanako-chan, and I told her that I was a friend of Nanako-chan’s brother. Then she asked me if I thought she was a bad person. I told her that I had known her long enough to know that she is a fundamentally good person, and that the incident with Nanako-chan was, while unfortunate, most likely not malicious.”

“And then?” Rise asked.

“My suspicions were confirmed,” Naoto said. “Asakura-san said that she was ‘weirded out’ and ‘emotionally distressed’ by Nanako-chan’s admission. During this time of panic, she told her friends, who then told their friends. By the time she realized what was going, she was too embarrassed to face Nanako-chan. And then she started crying and saying that she wasn’t gay, but she wanted to make up with Nanako-chan.”

“Aww. Is that it? I had hoped that you’d get all… mysterious and angry with her.” Rise tapped her chin with a finger and said, “I can’t believe she used the ‘gay panic’ excuse. That’s just sad.”

“Japan, as a nation, is conservative when it comes to homosexuality,” Naoto said. “Although our entertainment have a variety of same-sex attractions, I do not recall many, if any, instances of people identifying as gay or lesbian. Although I never felt any… ‘gay panic’, I can see why Asakura-san was put off by Nanako-chan’s confession, if Nanako-chan was serious. People may tolerate same-sex attraction, but the idea of someone identifying as homosexual is still off-putting to some.”

“Uh-huh.” Rise was going through her music sheets again, bouncing her head up and down to an unheard rhythm.

Naoto sighed. “Were you listening to me at all?”

“Well, I work in the entertainment industry,” Rise said. “People are a lot more open in the cities. They talk about stuff like this more than they do over here.”

“Oh.”

“I got Yosuke-senpai to say he _might_ be into Souji-senpai,” Rise said. “While you were making Jun-san cry.”

“Perhaps he was joking with you,” Naoto said.

“No, he seemed pretty serious,” Rise said. “He asked me what he should do if he was _hypothetically_ attracted to Souji-senpai, and he did this whole… pensive thinking thing. He’s actually kind of cute when he’s thinking.”

Did Naoto really need to hear that?

“Are you going to work all night?” Rise asked.

“If I have to,” she said.

“Aww. I feel kind of bad for Kanji-kun,” she said. “Sleeping there all alone, without you. Maybe I should go warm him up?”

Naoto set her pen down, and stood. “He’s back?”

“Yep. He came in around half an hour ago. I was trying to wake you up, but you just said something about ‘DNA telophase’ and the ratios of male-to-female salamanders in a lake over in Kyushu.”

… Whenever Rise looked that innocent, Naoto always became a bit uncertain as to whether or not she was telling the truth or not. But Kanji was back home. Thank God. She had been working all day, and while Rise was pleasant company, the Manor didn’t feel occupied unless Kanji was there, too.

“Excuse me,” she said. “I’m going to bed.”

Rise snickered at that. Naoto tilted her hat down, as though it could keep Rise from seeing her blush, and promptly walked into the doorframe.

 

\---

 

Yosuke had just finished his shift for the afternoon when something bounced off the side of his head.

“ _Ow_! You little—” He turned around, prepared to box someone around the ears, and found Nanako and Chie standing a bit off to the side, both carrying tennis rackets and dressed as though they were ready to play. For a moment he was paralyzed. How unfair was it that Chie decided to ambush him at his workplace? _Incredibly_ unfair. Then again, Chie almost never played fair with him, anyway. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Nanako-chan. … Chie.”

“Hi,” Nanako said. Oh, God, did she look a bit thinner than usual? Had she been eating? Yosuke felt a bit of his old protective instinct kicking in. When Souji had gone to the city, Yosuke had filled in the role of making sure Nanako didn’t die from malnutrition when Dojima got busy. Chie helped around, too; as Dojima’s partner in the force, she had a vested interest to making sure the Dojima house did not fall apart.

“Are you all right?” he said to her, ignoring Chie for the time being. She seemed to be more interested in just hanging back and waiting for him to slip up.

“I’m okay,” she said.

There was a tennis ball, bumping on his sneaker. Yosuke picked it up, and tossed it back to Nanako. She caught it on the racket, bouncing it up a few times, before passing it onto Chie.

“Can you not play with that in here?” he said. “This is the electronics section. If something breaks, then you’ll have to pay for it.”

“Sorry,” Chie said. “My hand slipped. Won’t happen again.”

“I’ve challenged Jun-senpai to a game of tennis,” she said. “If I win, then she has to take back everything she said, and deny all the rumors going around the school. If I lose or if we tie, I give up my seat on the varsity team, and have to work my way back. I want you to be there for the game, Yosuke-san.”

“Just give me the time and place,” he said. “I’ll make room for it.”

“Sunday morning,” Nanako said. “The courts are at the high school.”

“Got you. I’ll be there.”

They stood there in silence for one prolonged, awkward moment. Then Chie said, “We came to see Teddie. Nanako wanted to invite him, too. Can we go see the storage room?”

“Take the key,” he said, tossing Chie his ring. “Can I talk with you for a while, Nanako?”

“… Sure.” She looked entirely unenthusiastic. Chie mouthed something at Nanako that Yosuke didn’t quite catch, but Nanako rolled her eyes and smiled, so it had to be funny. Probably was at his expense, too, he thought, mildly annoyed, as he went up to the carpets and tapestry area. That place was almost always empty, and Yoshida was half-deaf, anyway, so it might as well have been silent. Nanako kept a distance from her, the distance of strangers. Yosuke couldn’t break through it, not without feeling like a total creep.

Nanako sat on one of the piles of rugs (“100% Pure Genuine Wool Tapestry!!! Machine Washable”—as though there was any washing machine that could fit a ten-foot long tapestry) and kicked her legs against it. She was looking up at him, almost expectantly, almost hesitantly.

“So you’re into girls now?” he said.

“Oh,” she said. “Um… Well, yeah.”

Yosuke ran his hand through his hair. Calm. He had been practicing what to say in his head. He couldn’t blow it now. “I want you to be… happy. I don’t want other people to pick on you just because of what you are, not when you’re practically like my own family. And even though I was kind of dumb about it, I want to support you and help you, and want to let you know nothing’s going to change between us.” At least they both looked embarrassed about it; she was blushing, and Yosuke was praying that his voice didn’t betray the sudden quickness in his pulse. “What can I do to support you?”

“Things like that are really helpful,” Nanako said. “When you say things like that, it makes me feel safe.”

“Oh,” he said. “That’s—I’m glad. I’m really glad that you feel that way.” He steered himself next to Nanako, and sat beside her. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you sooner,” he said.

“Well, I was kind of busy talking with everyone else,” she said. “I don’t mind it.”

“But _I_ mind it,” he said. “I mind it when you feel like you can’t talk to me. Do you get that? You’re not just my best friend’s little sister, you’re like my own little sister. And when you feel like you can’t talk to me, then that hurts both of us. I don’t want us to stop talking, or to stop being friends because I messed up once. Did they give you good advice?”

“They were really helpful,” she said. “Big bro asked Nagase-san and Ichijo-san on how I could make up with Jun-senpai, and they suggested having the match in front of the entire team. They said that I should show off how tough I was.”

“You’re one of the toughest kids I know,” he said. When Nanako rolled her eyes, he said, “I mean it.” They smiled at one another, and that was when Yosuke finally gave in. The distance was driving him nuts. It had been years since Nanako had shied from him, not since the first time she hid behind Souji’s legs in the electronics department of Junes. Cracking a smile, he said, “Do I have to ask for your brother’s permission to hug you now?”

She gave him a look she must have learned from Naoto, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Stroking her hair, Yosuke found that, for the first time in a while, he could breathe easily.

 

\---

 

Making up with Nanako was one thing, but making up with Souji was something else entirely. Souji was busy with work, or so he said. Either way, Souji had politely rebuffed Yosuke’s offers to talk both after and before work, citing that, as a member of the high school faculty, he was overeducated and underpaid, and right now had way too much to do. Souji would almost definitely be at the game, so Yosuke was banking on figuring out what to say sometime before then.

Then Sunday came, and he still had nothing. Since he worked at Junes, he was designated as Teddie’s pick up. So, at eight thirty on Sunday morning, he snuck into the storage room. Before Souji had left Inaba, everyone had pulled up enough cash to buy Teddie’s TV so they wouldn’t have to risk losing him. They kept the TV inside a special storage room, and Yosuke, Teddie, and Souji were the only ones with the keys. Every other week or so, Teddie would come bursting out of the TV. Yosuke normally put him to work, but on occasion let him run around the store, because, well, why not. Even Teddie needed to blow off steam every now and then.

He stood in front of the TV and yelled. No response. With a frown, he stuck his head into the TV and yelled a little harder. After a few more minutes, he heard Teddie’s familiar, squeaky steps, and the unfamiliar sight of Teddie thinking.

“Yosuke,” he said, “Chie said Nana-chan’s never going to score with me.”

“Well,” Yosuke said, “yeah. You probably aren’t going to score with her.” And hopefully you never will, he added silently. Ever since he had taken up Souji’s role as Nanako’s big brother, he had become decidedly weirded out by the idea of Nanako going out on a date with anyone. On one level he had encouraged her to go date, but on another, he seriously didn’t want to see Nanako getting _too_ involved with someone. The only reason he had spared Kyou Ogawa was because the poor boy looked perplexed enough by the idea of dating anyone that Yosuke felt confident that at least he wouldn’t take advantage of Nanako. The very idea of Teddie dating Nanako made him twitch, involuntarily, especially since while Nanako had grown up, Teddie… hadn’t. He had remained relatively unchanged throughout the years, keeping his scratchy, cartoonish voice.

Seriously. Teddie and Nanako? No way.

“And then Chie said you’re going to go score with sensei.”

“What?!” Chie—that jerk, he’d kill her! Yosuke sputtered indignantly for a while, and then grabbed Teddie by the head. “Come on, you stupid bear! We’re going to be late!”

Yosuke got to the tennis courts just before the game started. The others were already there, bunched along the benches on Nanako’s side of the court. Souji and Nanako were deep in discussion, and every now and then he’d help position her limbs, or demonstrate a move. The members of Inaba High’s tennis club were scattered all around. Just minutes after he arrived, the umpires and referee came onto the court, and Asakura and Nanako shook hands. Souji retreated to the side, evidently playing the role of coach for the day.

Yosuke didn’t know much about tennis, but he did know that Nanako was good at it, and that she was something of a berserk maniac once someone put a racket in her hands.

“No, no, not a berserk maniac,” Chie said. “It’s more like she’s an aggressive baseliner. She’s really good at pulling off really hard moves, and once I got some of the timidity out of her, her game was nearly perfect.”

“Nearly?” Naoto asked. She was jotting notes down. Evidently, sports weren’t something she followed all too often.

“The problem with playing as an aggressive baseliner is that you need a lot of concentration,” Chie said. “There’s not a lot of room for errors, especially since you’re going for a lot of ambitious, difficult moves. If you’re not completely with the game, then you might get beaten by someone who isn’t as good as you.”

“I see,” Naoto said. “So you’re worried her concentration might slip up?”

“Well, can’t say that she isn’t a bit nervous.” Kanji nodded to the court, where Nanako had just blundered her first serve. “Kid’s got a lot riding on this game. Her spot on varsity, her relationship with that senpai, and her pride.”

“Woah,” Teddie said. “Kanji, you actually sounded pretty smart there!”

“… You tryin’ to piss me off, you fuzzball?”

“Oh,” Yukiko said, drawing everyone’s attention back to the court. “That was a good play.”

So far, the score was thirty-love. Yosuke barely had any idea what any of the terminology meant, and instead relied on the running commentary between Yukiko and Chie to fill things in. Evidently the two of them had played tennis in middle school, although Yukiko had dropped it in high school to focus on the inn. The tennis club hadn’t formed yet while they were in school, so Chie mostly visited other towns when she wanted to play. Apparently, she was used to playing five sets rather than three, like most women. Yosuke wasn’t too surprised, but Yukiko gasped and put her hand to her mouth and did one of her polite, “oh my!”s and the two of them giggled and began going on about some match Chie had played four years ago, and Yosuke lost track of what the hell was going on in the court.

Despite a strong first three games, Nanako faltered, and ended up giving up another four games. The first set ended 3-6, in favor of Asakura.

The second set went better. After the third game, Chie and Yukiko returned to the land of the present to provide more commentary.

“Huh,” Chie said. “She’s not playing her normal game.”

“She seems pretty aggressive to me,” Yosuke said. Those last few shots had left Asakura bewildered and looking pretty annoyed, which could only be a good thing. “Unless you mean she’s a bit off?”

“I mean that she’s playing a more like Souji-kun than usual,” said Chie. “He’s a counter-puncher, for the most part. Plays defensively, and waits for the other guy to blunder before going in for the kill. I guess it’s because Asakura’s frustrating her. Asakura looks like a counter-puncher, too.”

“Uh-huh,” Yosuke said. He was beginning to wish Nanako could have played something he knew more about, like baseball or basketball—hell, even soccer wouldn’t be too bad. Still, he was beginning to like watching the game. He had thought tennis was a boring, girly sport before, but what he had seen here—well, it wasn’t bad. Wasn’t bad at all.

The second set ended 6-4 for Nanako, and the third set looked just plain _brutal_. By then, the sun was beginning to get high, and even from the benches, Yosuke could see the sweat dripping on the players’ faces. The third set dragged on, each game played fiercely and fast. The set ended 6-6, and a tiebreaking game was played.

Love-fifteen. Love-thirty; fifteen-thirty; fifteen-forty; thirty-forty. Then deuce, which seemed to go on forever until, finally, Nanako scored the last two points of the game and cinched a victory.

Yosuke was making his way to the court as the players shook hands, etiquette be damned. As he headed onto the court, he overheard the conversation between Asakura and Nanako.

“Senpai,” she said, “do you know why I chose to settle this through a game of tennis?”

“Not at all,” Asakura said.

And Nanako grinned. “It’s the only game where love means nothing.”

 

\---

 

Yosuke caught up with Souji on the parking lot. Souji frowned a bit at him, and said, “Yosuke.” Of course he’d acknowledge Yosuke; it wasn’t like Souji to ignore people.

“I want to talk,” he said. He tossed Souji the spare helmet he carried on his motorcycle and said, “Want to go on a ride with me, partner?”

Souji fitted the helmet onto his head. “Lead the way,” he said.

Yosuke had no particular destination in mind when he started driving, and wound up in Okina city before he knew it. It had been ages since he had thought of himself as a city boy, but the city still felt like a second home. Because of Yosuke’s lack of planning, they wound up in a cheap karaoke bar, waiting for their beers.

“So,” Souji said. “You wanted to talk?”

“First thing’s first, partner,” Yosuke said. “The last time we talked, I acted horribly. I’m not happy with the way I treated you, and I apologize for that. And… you were right. Kind of. About the entire me being… attracted to you thing. I don’t want to admit it, but it’s true. I want you to spend more time with me than you spend time with your girlfriends or boyfriends or whatever.” He took a deep breath, to check his heart. All the anxiety he had been going through over the last few days made him feel like a damn marathon runner. Then again, he figured Nanako and Souji had gone under a crapload more stress than he had.

The beer arrived, then. Souji looked at him for a second, as though scrutinizing him over the rim of the bottle. Then he smiled, and Yosuke felt incredibly _relieved_.

“I was afraid you’d be angry with me after that conversation,” he said.

“Yeah, I was,” Yosuke said. “Good thing Rise-chan’s so cute. Otherwise I wouldn’t have worked up the guts to talk to you.”

“So what do you want from me?” Souji said.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, I’m not really… I just want more of your _time_. I don’t want to bone you or anything.” He uncapped his bottle, and took a swig. “I never even considered the idea of screwing a guy. It’d be… weird. For me, at least. Are you… do you like me?”

“Honestly?” Souji said. He shook his head. “You’re not really my type.”

Well, go figure. Yosuke drank more beer. Maybe if he got sloshed enough, he could erase the feeling of vague humiliation burning in his throat. Or maybe that was just the alcohol.

“However,” Souji said, “I _am_ open to the idea of a date or two. We can see how things go. If nothing comes out of it, then we’ll leave it at that. And if you want to keep going, then let’s keep at it. Let’s go as far as you want to, and then see what happens. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said. “Yeah, I can deal with that.”

“Well, we have the karaoke, and we have the beer,” said Souji. “Nanako just won an important match, and I’m in the mood to get drunk. I don’t see why we can’t start our first date now.”

“You know what, partner?” Yosuke said. He tossed Souji the microphone. “I was thinking the same thing.”

By the end of the afternoon, Yosuke was too sloshed to properly see straight, so Souji called a cab to take them back to Inaba. While Souji was fumbling for cash in front of Yosuke’s house, Yosuke leaned in, and kissed Souji, lightly, on the lips, and it wasn’t weird at all.

 

\---

 

 _… six months later._

The problem with Nanako bringing home girls was that it was a _lot_ harder to loom over them. Dojima had tried it, Souji had tried it, and even though it really wasn’t his shtick, Yosuke had given it a shot. That had only brought complaints from Nanako that it was impossible for her to date, because the last thing she needed to add to a reputation of having an intimidating, overprotective father and overprotective brother was having an overprotective father and _two_ overprotective brothers.

Dojima was presently eyeballing the newest victim: a third year and tennis club captain of a neighboring town’s high school’s team, a girl with styled, short hair. Her well-mannered, bright attitude and sly smile reminded Yosuke a little too much of one of his ex-girlfriends for his comfort. “She’s too old for you,” Dojima said.

“ _Dad_.”

“I’m just looking out for you,” he said. “Besides, you can always date after high school. Right now you need to focus on your studies and concentrate on your tennis—”

“Dad, Hayashiya-san and I aren’t going out on a date, we’re going to play _tennis_ ,” Nanako said. “I have a tournament coming up, remember? She’s played against Hamada High before, and said she can give me some tips on how to deal with their doubles team, since I’m playing doubles with Jun-senpai again.” When Dojima continued to look unconvinced, she said, “Big bro’s still at school for the basketball game. I’ll drop by the game before I play tennis, and you can check my story with his, okay?”

And, reluctantly, Dojima allowed Nanako and Hayashiya to go play.

“Kids these days,” Dojima said, shaking his head. “Sorry for dragging you all the way out here, Hanamura.”

“No, it wasn’t a problem,” Yosuke said. “I left some stuff over here last time, anyway.”

The sad part was, Nanako was probably having an easier time dating than Yosuke was. After a halting romance of four months, he and Souji called things off. Yosuke was, in truth, relieved things had turned out that way. He and Souji had a few weeks of awkward sex before Souji concluded that they were hideously sexually incompatible, and would probably be better off as good friends. It had been a clean break, but Yosuke had been embarrassed for weeks, especially since Teddie still wouldn’t shut up about the two of them scoring.

Honestly. One of these days, Yosuke was going to have to show Teddie how _real_ men did their scoring.

“Hey, Hanamura,” Dojima said. “You don’t mind helping me out with something, do you? I need you to deliver a note to Satonaka.” He handed Yosuke a piece of paper folded neatly into squares. “She should be near the high school on patrol with that Torii clown. Go check up on her, won’t you?”

“Sure thing.”

“It’d be best if you wait a few minutes,” Dojima said. “Wouldn’t want them to think I sent you out to tail them or anything…”

… But that was exactly what Dojima was doing. Dojima was reading the papers, a look of near bewilderment on his face and said, under his breath, “I’m too old for this kind of thing. Oh, and Hanamura? It’d be best if you went on foot. Wouldn’t want you to slip on the road.”

“No problem there, Dojima-san. I walked here from the shopping district, anyway.” He had been checking up with Naoki Konishi, when Souji had driven by and offered him a ride to his house before Souji went to the school. If he had known Souji had taken Yosuke to his house so Yosuke could help spy on the date…

Well, at least he couldn’t say that Dojima disliked the idea of Nanako dating other women. It was more that Dojima didn’t want Nanako dating _anyone_ until she graduated from high school and got at least two degrees.

So, ten minutes after Nanako left the house, Yosuke went to deliver a “note” to Chie. He wasn’t even fifteen minutes down the road when he spotted something that sounded suspiciously like Nanako and Hayashiya knee-deep in the Samegawa.

“I thought you said that the two of you were going to play tennis,” Yosuke called out to the both of them. Nanako made a face.

“Ran-san and I were on our way there,” she said. She was holding hands with Hayashiya, he noted. _And_ on a first name basis. Looked like Dojima was right to be suspicious. To Hayashiya, she said, “That’s Yosuke Hanamura-san.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Hayashiya. Then to Nanako, she said, “Is he going to tail us for the rest of the night?”

“Are you?” Nanako asked.

“Dojima-san just told me to deliver a note to Chie at the high school,” Yosuke said. “I’ll chaperone you to the high school, deliver the note, and be on my way.”

“I’m almost sixteen,” Nanako said. “I don’t need to be chaperoned. You let me go on dates with Kyou-kun without anyone tailing me.”

That was what Nanako thought, at least. He remembered Chie complaining that every time Nanako had a date with Kyou, her patrol shift would mysteriously change so that she’d be in the vicinity. Yosuke had assumed that since the women’s tennis season was starting, Nanako wouldn’t have any time to go out, but…

“C’mon, you two,” he said. “Don’t make me get in there.”

Hayashiya whispered something into Nanako’s ear that made her giggle, but they climbed out of the Samegawa and went the rest of the Samegawa without much fuss. Nanako went to notify Souji of her arrival, and Yosuke spotted Chie under the lights of the tennis courts in plainclothes.

“Yo,” she greeted him. “Dojima-san sent you here to spy on Nanako-chan?”

“What else?” he said. He tossed Chie the piece of paper. “Here. It’s probably empty, though.”

“No, knowing him it’s something like a fine for putting a hole in the wall again…” Chie opened the note, and groaned. “Crap… Where am I going to get that kind of money…?”

“What?” Yosuke said. He looked at the invoice, and said, “Ouch.”

“I broke one of the coffee machines while practicing my kicks and—well, you know how Dojima-san is with his coffee.” She looked at Yosuke. Oh, hell, no.

“You’re living with one of the wealthiest people in Inaba,” Yosuke protested. “You’re seriously not asking me for money.”

“What? No way. But when you and Souji were still dating, he brought a coffee machine over to your house, right? _Please_ let me borrow it. Just long enough for Dojima-san to stop breathing fire every morning.”

“What the… I need that thing!” He was about to say more when Chie shushed him, and ducked back into the shadows as Nanako and Hayashiya came out onto the courts and actually started playing.

One of these days, he was going to need to make good on Souji’s promise to teach him the game. Until then, he was all too glad to sneak over to the basketball game inside the gym. Souji, upon seeing Yosuke and Chie making their way in, smiled, and gestured over to a few empty seats by Daisuke and Kou and a girl who was, most likely, Kou’s rumored little sister.

Then, halfway into the second quarter, Kou cleared his throat and said, “Hey, Yosuke. Mind if I ask you a personal question?”

“Go ahead,” Yosuke said cautiously. If there was one thing the last six months had taught him, it was that personal questions about his relationships invariably ended up with him lamely protesting that he wasn’t gay. He totally got where Chie was coming from now. One relationship with a guy, and suddenly he was some weird, exotic creature.

“Well… Daisuke and I were wondering.” Oh, no. Yosuke took one look at Daisuke’s hand on Kou’s thigh, and the way they were sitting awfully close and realized what it meant. What was it about Inaba and unusually close high school friends taking it to the next level? “When you were dating Souji, how did you come out to your little sister?”

“What he means is how you do it the ‘proper’ way,” Daisuke said.

“I want to do this right, okay?” Kou said. “And I figured that—”

“You thought that _Yosuke_ would be able to tell you how to do it right?” Chie asked, barely suppressing her grin.

“… Good point,” Kou said.

“Hey, I have plenty of secondhand experience,” Yosuke said. “And that one time when I was going out with Souji.”

“So how’d you tell Nanako-chan?” Kou said. “Because Sachiko’s still so young, and I don’t want to shock her or anything. I heard that you and Souji got into this huge fight over Nanako-chan a few months ago, so I assumed—”

“Look,” Yosuke said. “About that fight. Go out and check out the tennis courts.”

Daisuke and Kou exchanged glances, and then got up.

After a suspiciously long time away, they returned, Kou’s hair messed up and Daisuke’s collar pulled high up his neck.

“Kou said that Nanako-chan and that other girl are out on a date,” Daisuke said. “That right, Yosuke?”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said with a little sigh.

“I should’ve figured you wouldn’t have any good advice,” Kou said. He looked at Chie and blushed a little. Then he turned his attention back to the game. “Damn it, what’s Souji doing out there? He’s going to lose the game at this rate.”

“Relax, Kou-san,” Chie said. “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

“Yeah…” Kou rested his chin on his hand. Then he said, “Think we should ask Nanako-chan on how to do it?”

As though hearing what Kou had just said, Souji chose that moment to look up at them in the benches and smile. It was a very pleasant smile.

It was also scary as hell.

“… Maybe not, huh,” Kou said faintly.

“Not without talking to us first,” Yosuke agreed.

Inaba went on to win the game by six points. Chie dropped Hayashiya back at her house in the neighboring town, while Yosuke and Souji took Nanako back home, each holding one of her hands in theirs.


End file.
